Doorway guard and side slack bracing for crate-loaded cars



May 2, 1939.

H. c. PIERCE 2,156,866

DOORWAY GUARD AND SIDE SLACK BRACING FOR CRATE-LOADED CARS Filed April 21, 1937 lo OI In 2/6: 22 Z or. Harold C. Pi'erc 0.

Patented May 2, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFIQE DOORWAY GUARD AND SIDE SLACK BRAC- ING FOR CRATE-LOADED CARS 5 Claims.

This invention has to do in a general way with the art of loading freight cars and the like with packaged goods such as fruit boxes, vegetable crates, and the like, which are so packed that the covers present a surface which bows outwardly toward the center from the ends of the box.

As is well known to those familiar with the art, it is the usual practice in loading a car with boxes or crates of the general class described above, to pack such boxes or crates within the car on their ends and to arrange them so that their bowed top surfaces all face the same direction. The space left at the side of the car, is filled with a frame work of timbers constructed on the job so as to take up side slack, and those boxes adjacent the door are held from falling out when the door is open by means of frame work or strips which are either toe-nailed to the side walls of the car adjacent the ends of the door opening or are nailed to the boxes. Considerable difliculty is always experienced in toe-nailing these strips to the side of the car due to the limited amount of space in which the worker has to work, and when the strips are nailed to the boxes themselves, the vibration of the car in transit tends to work the nails loose so that there is always the liability of two or three boxes falling from the car when the door is open. If the strips are made sufficiently secure to positively avoid the possibility of their becoming loosened in transit, then they are difficult to remove and there is the liability of damaging the box in removing the strips. Also considerable time may be consumed in removing the strips to permit the removal of a box or two for inspection purposes.

It therefore becomes a primary object of the present invention to provide door guarding means and side slack bracing means which is of simple form and construction, can be easily and economically manufactured and readily installed and removed from the car.

My invention is particularly adapted, though not necessarily limited, to use in conjunction with a loading system of the type in which the boxes "or crates are loaded so that the bowed surfaces on both sides of the load are adjacent the sides of the car. In other words, the load provides a ventilation space intermediate the width of the car where the bottom surfaces of two boxes in a row are opposite each other. This type of load presents several advantages enumerated in the application referred toabove. and lends itself particularly to use in connection with the brace contemplated by this invention since both sides of the load present the curved surfaces adjacent the sides of the car within which the brace member contemplated by this invention may be dropped and securely wedged in place.

In addition to a brace member which may be so dropped and wedged in place between the curved surfaces on the boxes and the side walls of the car, my invention contemplates the provision of such a brace member with means which will hold the same against longitudinal shifting movement during the vibration of the car in transit and which, at the same time, may be quickly and easily removed without damage to the boxes. In this regard my invention preferably takes advantage of the fact that boxes of the class described are provided with cleats which hold the cover slats on the boxes, and the cover slats are spaced a slight distance apart leaving spaces behind these cleats. The holding means contemplated by this invention, in its preferred form, comprises a hook which is secured to the longitudinal brace member and which extend over the cleat and down into the spaces behind the cleat and between the cover slats of the box.

The details in the preferred form of my invention, together with its preferred manner of use in connection with a load of the type referred to above, will be best understood from the following description of the accompanying drawing, which are chosen for illustrative purposes only, and in which:

Fig. 1 is a side view showing a portion of a car loaded with boxes or crates of the type referred to above, a part of such view being broken away to further illustrate details in the construction and use of my invention;

Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation which may be considered as having been taken in .a plane represented by the line 2--2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary elevation illustrating more in detail the manner of loading the boxes and the position of the brace means as it is applied in combination with the load;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional elevation illustrating one preferred manner in which the longitudinal brace is held against lateral movement by a support associated with the cleat on the box; and

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary perspective view showing a preferred form of brace contemplated by this invention.

More particularly describing the invention as herein illustrated, reference numeral 1 I indicates a freight car of the box car or refrigerator car type, which is shown as having a floor l2, side walls It and a door opening or door openings indicated generally by reference numeral M. The car is shown as being filled or loaded with boxes or crates generally indicated by reference numerals l5 and I5, and it will be observed from Fig. 2 that these boxes are loaded in tiers, the boxes indicated by reference numeral l5 being arranged so that their bowed portions face the right side of the car and the boxes indicated by reference numeral l5 being arranged so that their bowed surfaces face the left side of the car. With this arrangement, it will be seen that at an intermediate point transversely of the load there is provided a space l6 between the bottom surfaces of adjacent boxes in the row. I have found that the frictional resistance offered by the ends of the boxes on the bottom of the car is sufiicient to prevent a transverse shifting movement of the load so that with the boxes arranged in this manner they may be placed with bowed top surfaces in close contact with the side walls of the car, leaving a ventilation space in the mid-portion of the car between the bottoms of adjacent boxes.

It will be observed from Figs. 3 and 4 that the boxes or crates illustrated herein are of the conventional type used for shipping fruits and vegetables and the like, in which the cover slats I! are held at their ends by means of cleats l8 and are bowed out at their mid-portion where they may be secured by means of straps indicated by reference numeral l9.

With the arrangement shown, it will be observed that these bowed portions adjacent the side walls of the car leave wedge-shaped openings 28 between the covers of the box and the side walls of the car, and my invention contemplates taking advantage of these wedge-shaped openings to provide a guard rail and slack bracing means which may be easily and quickly installed and removed, and which is positive in its action of holding the side boxes in their properly alined positions. The door guard rail contemplated by this invention consists of a longitudinal member made of sufficient length to have its ends extending substantially beyond the ends of the door openings so that they will drop down between the bowed surfaces on certain of the boxes and the adjacent side wall of the car where the rail will be held in place with its intermediate portion across the door opening and adjacent the bowed surfaces of the boxes which are positioned in the door opening.

This guard rail which is indicated generally by reference numeral 22 may be made of various materials and in various shapes. It is preferable, of course, that the rail be light in weight and at the same time be composed of a material having suflicient strength to resist any thrust forces which may be imposed upon it. I have found for the purpose of this invention that a very convenient material comprises ordinary bamboo poles which are found to very nicely satisfy the above requisites and possess the further advantage of being obtainable at a very low cost.

It was also pointed out as an important object of this invention to provide the guard rails with means for holding them against longitudinal shifting movement. In the present embodiment of my invention I accomplish this by providing these longitudinal guard members with laterally extending hooks, secured to the longitudinal member in any suitable manner, and being of a length such that the hooked end may be extended over the cleats in certain of the boxes to which the guard member is adjacent. These hooks may be formed in various ways, and in the present embodiment of my invention they are illustrated as being comprised of wires 24 which are merely wrapped around the longitudinal member 22 and secured thereto, as indicated at 26. The ends of these wires are formed with hooks as indicated at 21, shaped so as to fit over the cleats 23 on the ends of the boxes, the hooked portions being received in the spaces between adjacent cover strips on the boxes. The length of the wire 24 and the size of the longitudinal memer 22 are preferably so proportioned that the longitudinal members will drop downwardly into the wedge-shaped space between the curved surfaces on the boxes and the side walls of the car to have a definite wedging action therein, and with a view of enhancing this wedging action, it is preferable that the longitudinal members be made circular in cross section.

For the purpose of taking up the side slack between the boxes adjacent the side walls of the car, that is at either end of the door opening, I may also provide slack braces similar in construction to the door guards described above, but preferably of smaller diameter so that they will drop down into the spaces 20 a substantial distance toward the center of the box. Side slack braces are indicated by reference numeral 30 and are shown as being provided with hook members, generally indicated at 3|, to hold them against longitudinal shifting movement. These braces 35) if desired, be positioned to lie opposite the center of the boxes so that bracing is accomplished through the center bulkhead in the boxes.

It is to be understood that while I have herein described and illustrated one preferred form of my invention, and have indicated one preferred material from which it may be made, and one preferred form of car-load with which it is par ticularly adapted for use, the invention is not limited to the precise details described above, but includes within its scope whatever changes fairly come within the spirit of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. use in combination with a box car or the like having a side wall with an opening therein and containing a row of boxes facing said side wall and opening in close proximity thereto; an elongated rigid member extending along the outside of said row and having its ends positioned between the outer faces of said boxes and the car wall at opposite sides of said opening and extending across said opening, and means on said member releasably attaching the member to boxes in said row so that said member holds the boxes against lateral shifting movement into said opening, there being one of said members assoelated with at least the top tier in the case of more than one tier of boxes.

2. For use in combination with a box car or the like having a side wall with an opening therein and containing a row of boxes having end cleats and facing said side wall and opening in close proximity thereto; an elongated rigid memer extending along the outside of said row and having its ends positioned between the outer faces of said boxes and the car wall at opposite sides of said opening and extending across said opening, and means on said member releasably attaching the member to end cleats of boxes in said row so that said member holds the boxes against lateral shifting movement into said opening, there being one of said members associated with at least the top tier in the case of more than one tier of boxes.

3. For use in combination with a box car or the like having a side wall with an opening therein and containing a row of boxes facing saidside Wall and opening in close proximity thereto; an elongated rigid member extending along the outside of said row and having its ends positioned between the outer faces of said boxes and the car wall at opposite sides of said opening and extending across said opening, and longitudinally spaced hooks on said member releasably attaching the member to boxes in said row so that said member holds the boxes against lateral shifting movement into said opening, there being one of said members associated with at least the top tier in the case of more than one tier of boxes.

4. For use in combination with a box car or the like having a side Wall with an opening therein and containing a row of boxes having end cleats and facing said side Wall and opening in close proximity thereto; an elongated rigid memoer extending along the outside of said row and having its ends positioned between the outer faces of said boxes and the car wall at opposite sides of said opening and extending across said opening, and longitudinally spaced hooks on said member extending over said end cleats and releasably attaching the member to boxes in said row sothat said member holds the boxes against lateral shifting movement into said opening, there being one of said members associated with at least the top tier in the case of more than one tier of boxes.

5. A guard adapted to be applied to a row of boxes extending longitudinally within a box car adjacent a side wall thereof, said side wall having an opening therein across which said row extends, said guard comprising a bamboo pole adapted to be disposed across said opening between the boxes and side wall with its ends behind the side Wall portions at the sides of the opening so as to contact said side wall portions and boxes whereby to hold the boxes against lateral shifting movement into said opening, and hook means carried by said pole at longitudinally spaced points thereon and releasably engageable with said boxes to maintain the pole in operative relation to the latter.

HAROLD C. PIERCE. 

